Parks Bureau

State parks officials were under pressure to provide a new takeout area for white-water rafting outfitters when they decided recently to develop a facility near the pristine Glen Onoko Falls, one outfitter said Friday. "Absent a new takeout, there would not have been boating on the river," Ken Powley, owner of White Water Challengers, said. "Faced with the prospect of no boating for an entire season, they (the state) responded rather quickly." On the shore opposite Glen Onoko Falls, a pristine and sometimes treacherous area within Lehigh Gorge State Park, the Bureau of Parks is developing a takeout point for white-water rafters, complete with three parking areas and a 1-1/2-mile-long road, which is likely to bring thousands of visitors to the spot.

The only things sprouting from the dirt-filled median at the intersection of Fourth, Fifth and W. Brookdale streets in Allentown on Monday afternoon were red, white and blue campaign signs for state Rep. Karen Beyer, R-131st District, and Democratic challenger Linda Minger. Mayor Ed Pawlowski and the Allentown Garden Club would like to replace the political placards with the vibrant pink, yellow and violet of hardy, native plant life. With the city's support, club members launched an effort Monday to enlist community groups, churches, service organizations and local businesses in freshening up more than 30 neglected medians at key intersections throughout the city.

An Allentown man was cited yesterday by Allentown police for violating two city ordinances relating to pruning of shade trees in the public right of way, or along city sidewalks. Anthony Franco, 35, 2004 Baker Drive, was cited for pruning trees without a proper license or permit from the city Parks Bureau. Police said Franco had been hired by a resident of the 1700 block of Oxford Drive to prune the trees, and was observed by a parks employee. Donald Marushak, parks director, said any work involving trees in the public right of way, or within five to eight feet of a curb, requires the permit and license validation by his bureau.

A south Allentown man was arrested Monday and accused of abducting a city parks employee from the South Mountain Reservoir last week, driving around for five hours, robbing and dropping the worker unhurt on a street. Police picked up Emil Pacsai, 20, of 2338 S. Alice St., without incident about noon at 10th Street and Emmaus Avenue and charged him with kidnapping, robbery and related crimes. District Judge Michele Varricchio sent him to Lehigh County Prison under $150,000 bail. Police did not say how they tracked down Pacsai.

Allentown is shifting its snow removal into low gear after an intense week. Public Works Director Neal Kern said his crews will work eight-hour shifts instead of 12 hours, and he has stopped using some rental equipment. Workers still are trying to clear alleys and small streets, but only those with homes. And crews are on the street clearing drains in preparation for melting and rain expected at the end of the week. Snow removal on main streets will continue, unless it rains.

The shooting started early in the morning and sometimes lasted past dark. "It sounded like fireworks," said Susan Carr of 224 Foellner Lane in Harrow, Nockamixon Township. "It was like a machine gun over there sometimes." Exactly like a machine gun, according to some neighbors. Controversy surrounding an unofficial shooting range that Nockamixon State Park officials shut down early last year emerged again this week when the operator of a Central Bucks shooting range unveiled his plans to reopen the Nockamixon site for trap shooting.

Concerned about Allentown's budget woes and recent staff reductions in the parks bureau, the Harry C. Trexler Trust is looking for a court-approved agreement that will define how the city receives and spends its money. Trustees who oversee the fund established in the will of the late general and father of the city's parks system are first looking for agreement from Mayor Roy C. Afflerbach and City Council before seeking a court order. In a proposed agreement sent to Afflerbach and council Monday by Trustee Malcolm J. Gross, beginning in 2006 the city would be obligated to spend one-third of the fund's annual grant on park infrastructure improvements.

Allentown is preparing to fix two long-standing problems at the Municipal Golf Course -- inadequate golf cart paths and a potentially dangerous access lane. Assistant Superintendent of Recreation Joe Busolits told the Recreation Commission yesterday bids will be sought soon to reconstruct golf cart paths throughout the course. The project is estimated to cost $38,000. The deteriorated paths are a safety hazard, Busolits said. The project should be completed by the spring, Busolits said, and play will not be interrupted during construction.

Allentown City Council on Wednesday will learn the administration's plan for managing and marketing center city now that the Downtown Improvement District Authority has been disbanded. Edwin Pawlowski, director of Allentown's Department of Community and Economic Development, will explain the programs and personnel City Hall will commit to the Hamilton Street corridor with the goal of keeping it commercially vibrant and aesthetically appealing. "Do we have a plan? Absolutely," said Pawlowski, noting that his strategy will take an all-encompassing approach, from offering assistance programs for businesses to forming a permanent crew to broom sweep sidewalks on a daily basis.

The only things sprouting from the dirt-filled median at the intersection of Fourth, Fifth and W. Brookdale streets in Allentown on Monday afternoon were red, white and blue campaign signs for state Rep. Karen Beyer, R-131st District, and Democratic challenger Linda Minger. Mayor Ed Pawlowski and the Allentown Garden Club would like to replace the political placards with the vibrant pink, yellow and violet of hardy, native plant life. With the city's support, club members launched an effort Monday to enlist community groups, churches, service organizations and local businesses in freshening up more than 30 neglected medians at key intersections throughout the city.

Allentown is looking into ways to protect its parks employees, after one said he was abducted while working alone at the South Mountain Reservoir, driven around for five hours, robbed and dropped unhurt on a street. The city might consider a policy requiring parks maintenance employees to work in pairs, if resources allow, said Managing Director Francis Dougherty, but the first move will be to review the number of times employees check in from remote areas. For years, the worker who was abducted has been reporting to the isolated, 157-acre park at 6:30 a.m., checking in with his Parks Bureau supervisors via 800 MHz radio, performing his duties and checking in a second time at 3 p.m., just before leaving to go home.

A city employee from the Parks Bureau will keep the Allentown Municipal Golf Course open in March while officials continue to try to figure out a longer-term solution. The city's contract with golf pro Deron Erney, who runs the driving range and pro shop, expired Tuesday. Erney, who has operated the course for the last four years, had granted the city a two-month extension at the end of 2005, but could not agree with city officials on terms of extending the contract for the remainder of 2006.

Allentown Mayor Roy C. Afflerbach has proposed a retroactive $5,000 pay raise for Public Works Director Neal E. Kern, to compensate him for taking over supervision of the Parks Bureau. Kern should be paid for the additional responsibilities and for serving as project manager on a variety of parks construction projects, Afflerbach said. "My agreement with Neal at the beginning of the year 2005 was that if he was willing to take on the additional responsibility of the parks and take over as construction manager on the capital projects the Trexler Trust was asking us to complete, he would be compensated based on his performance," Afflerbach said.

Concerned about Allentown's budget woes and recent staff reductions in the parks bureau, the Harry C. Trexler Trust is looking for a court-approved agreement that will define how the city receives and spends its money. Trustees who oversee the fund established in the will of the late general and father of the city's parks system are first looking for agreement from Mayor Roy C. Afflerbach and City Council before seeking a court order. In a proposed agreement sent to Afflerbach and council Monday by Trustee Malcolm J. Gross, beginning in 2006 the city would be obligated to spend one-third of the fund's annual grant on park infrastructure improvements.

Allentown City Council on Wednesday will learn the administration's plan for managing and marketing center city now that the Downtown Improvement District Authority has been disbanded. Edwin Pawlowski, director of Allentown's Department of Community and Economic Development, will explain the programs and personnel City Hall will commit to the Hamilton Street corridor with the goal of keeping it commercially vibrant and aesthetically appealing. "Do we have a plan? Absolutely," said Pawlowski, noting that his strategy will take an all-encompassing approach, from offering assistance programs for businesses to forming a permanent crew to broom sweep sidewalks on a daily basis.

Blame it on global warming or something mysterious taking place beneath the surface of Allentown's Union Terrace Pond, but it has been years since the water at the city park froze thick enough to permit ice skating. Yet outdoor ice skating might return to the city this year, even if Union Terrace fails to freeze over. An artificial pond only inches deep has been constructed by Parks Bureau employees on the parking lot of Cedar Beach Pool. Parks Superintendent John Fasolka presumes the man-made pond will freeze more quickly than the deeper, naturally insulated body of water at Union Terrace, which is fed by Cedar Creek.

A new report recommends that Allentown consider merging its parks and recreation bureaus, even though people involved in the city's recreation programs oppose such action. "The public will just go nuts if we combine both of these bureaus," Councilman Lee Gaumer said yesterday. "The number one reason is they feel recreation already is not an important enough priority for the city." The city's parks and recreation plan, released this week, suggests that a task force be formed to explore the pros and cons of merging the bureaus.

To the Editor: This letter is in response to an article in the May 19 Morning Call regarding "Lights in the Parkway." The article was placed at the top of page B-1, under the sensational headline, "Heydt told, clean up Lights mess." In addition to the sensationalized headline and placement, the article contains numerous errors and omissions. In the second paragraph, the article says, "Five months after Heydt's controversial Lights in the Parkway Christmas display ended and one week before the Memorial Day weekend, equipment and old light bulbs litter the bare ground in the park."

The public officials who produce Lights in the Parkway and who assist Mayfair and Wegmans Wine, Dine Allentown don't want Mister Frosty selling ice cream in the city's sylvan sanctuaries. Gregory Kambakis, who has been meandering through Allentown's residential neighborhoods in his Mister Frosty truck for six summers, was warned by city groundskeepers in recent weeks to keep his motorized ice cream stand out of the parks. Kambakis included visits to Cedar Creek Park, Lehigh Parkway and Jordan Park on his daily route.

Trying to walk around Cedar Beach in Allentown without stepping on goose droppings is like trying to swim without getting wet. For years, an abundance of Canada geese has caused erosion and health risks at parks and beaches around the state. City, county and state officials have tried everything from firecrackers to loudspeakers to shoo the birds away. A few years ago in upper Montgomery County, egg shaking was the population-control method of choice. Though Allentown park officials are stuck for ideas, Lehigh County park officials are attempting to take away the hands that feed the geese.